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Statement of Multiculturalism

Growing up, I was interested in my own multi-ethnic (although not multi-racial) background.  My ancestors are Irish and Dutch, Polish and Ukrainian, Czech and Hungarian.  My most recent immigrant ancestors came to this country around the time of the first world war.  My great-grandmother never learned to speak English, and her family could only speak to her in Hungarian until she died shortly before I was born.  As an adult, I thought it would be great to learn Hungarian, to try to speak to my grandfather in his native language... but it had been nearly thirty years since he'd spoken it, and couldn't remember anything.  It made me think what a great cultural heritage I'd lost through "assimilation".

I've also been fascinated by cultures not in my own bloodlines.  I've studied a number of foreign languages, from Spanish, to Sanskrit; Japanese, to two African languages (Twi spoken in Ghana, and Dholuo, spoken in Kenya).  I've been especially attracted to Japanese culture and cuisine.  There is this amazing Vietnamese restaurant on the west side of Cleveland...

In addition to these things, I have reached out to other cultures on a more personal level.  I was penpals with a young man from Japan for a time, and I'm currently penpals with a bisexual woman in South Africa, for the last three or four years.  We met through a penpal service for the GLBT community.  Despite our commonalities, we sometimes disagree in our views of religion: she is deeply religious, while I, though I was raised Catholic, became an atheist in college.  I enjoy these discussions, even though we've agreed to disagree.

I've never had any difficulty mixing with people of other races.  I attended for a time an elementary school where as many as 2/3 of my class was African American.  I also attended an urban university for my Bachelor's degree, and my Masters degree in Mathematics.  My alma mater had a diverse student body, and an atmosphere in which tolerance and multiculturalism was considered the highest of values.

Multicultural issues have not arisen very frequently in my teaching of mathematics.  Algebra isn't exactly a topic which engenders cultural controversy.  Of course, I do anything I can to address any specific issues that students bring to my attention, from missing class do to religious observances, to more serious matters.  Most of my students, whatever their background, walk away from my class knowing that I respect them, and they respect me for it; the rare incident I have experienced where this respect was not returned, I have always tried to handle with patience and tolerance.  Such incidents have never deterred me from my dedication to teaching.